It’s worth noting the juxtaposition between Lemonade and what she gave on Instagram. It’s too much of a gap to brush off as “ain’t as radical as you want it to be.”

A very striking gap.

It does raise questions on how artists link performative Blackness to their own personhood https://twitter.com/kbyrd2_/status/1266724237143937026

That being said, we’ve seen several examples of celebrities this week put out content that was tone deaf at best and completely off the mark at worst. It’s a cautionary tale. Malcolm X warned against crowning entertainers as leaders of the Black community.

We are sorely missing critical engagement of Black public intellectuals in a way that doesn’t silo voices within specific channels.